New Delhi, 3rd March 2016
Jewellers started their three-day pan-India strike to protest proposed re-imposition of 1 percent excise duty on gold and diamond jewellery and mandatory quoting of PAN by consumers for transaction of Rs 2 lakh and above.
Praveen Goel CMD Sunar Jewels said “The Jewellery industry has been forced to go on strike due to government’s policy to impose 1 % excise duty in the union budget presented by our Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.We were already not satisfied with the making of PAN cards mandatory for transactions of 2 Lac and above, now by introducing 1 % excise duty the government has already created a more difficult situation for us”
“We are going on an indefinite strike until further notice. We are informing all jewellers and traders across India to come for support,” he said.
Sunar Jewels has already contacted the GJF delegation who is planning to meet finance ministry officials with a representation to take a call on future course of action. Jewellery-making is the third-largest employment generator after agriculture and textile, creating a value addition of over Rs.1 trillion, which is the same as the auto and chemical sector. So manufacturing and exports should be encouraged.